Bogota Spring 2011: Day 2

Another wonderful day today in the presence of the Lord and some of His choice soldiers. We started out the day with a meeting at the national headquarters of ICBF. We met with the head of adoptions for the nation of Colombia and her assistant for 2 1/2 hours regarding our upcoming Texas Vacation Program. We obtained the answers to many of our questions and learned many new things about the vacation and adoption processes in Colombia. Some amazing statistics came through today that play right into everything Orphan Hope is working on. There are 27,000 adoptable orphans in Colombia between the ages of 8 and 15. The shocking thing is that this represents only about 20% of the total number of children in orphanages in Colombia and that larger number only represents the small portion of orphans who are in orphanages. No one knows the number of orphans living on the streets and in the sewers. Children On The Brink estimated the total to be 577,000 in 2005 but the people we have talked to here say that it is in the millions. This is why we must continue to bring mission trips here and have vacation programs and facilitate adoptions. And here is the reason we must have safe houses once the children age out of the orphanages at 18. Every year in Colombia 5000 children age out, 800 a year in Bogota alone. 15% of these kids will commit suicide within two years and another 60% will end up in prostitution or prison. This is why we are here. We must work and push and pray to help these beautiful children to find Jesus and have a life in His grace. We cannot look the other way and pretend that it is someone else’s problem. God has clearly called and equipped us to turn this country upside down for Him and we must obey.

We had a marvelous meeting and they were very complimentary of our vacation program last December and the adoptions and Padrinos that came out of it. They said that the older girls who couldn’t be adopted came back on fire for education and felt like they were not alone in the world! Then they said something that we kind of knew but it stunned us to hear them say it. They said, “You know, before you guys started coming Colombia’s Padrino program was solely internal in this country. Then you Texans started coming down and becoming Padrinos and then you helped us develop a program so that we had a defined, national Padrino program, and now we are taking that program to other agencies and other countries from what you guys started here.” We were stunned. God took some ordinary guys and gals over the last 4 years who came to Colombia and fell in love with some kids and wanted to have a way to take them out of the orphanage and spend family time with them and were committed to coming again and again and used them to change the program of an entire nation and develop something that will impact hundreds of children in the next few years. Who says ordinary people can’t change the world?

We left there giddy with what God is doing for us at national government levels and went to have lunch with 2 dear brothers from Fundacion Nuevo Mundo that we partner with here and we spent the whole afternoon learning from him about safe houses and orphanages and Jesus and spiritual warfare and facts and figures. It was amazing! We strategized about how we can work together in Bogota to impact more children. It was over the top anointed and we left there with a greater sense of urgency and surety that we were on the right path and working with the right people. We left there giddy with the possibilities and rejoicing at the people and counsel and help and resources that God continues to send us as we take one step of faith at a time. On the way to the restaurant for our dinner meeting we babbled about multiple safe houses and short, mid, and long term missionaries and interns and bringing radical sold out for Jesus college kids down to work in the streets and alliances with Christian ministries and Tres Dias Colombia and how it would be our training for servant leaders and on and on. “I AM the Lord! Is there anything to hard for me?” Dream Center Bogota anyone? 🙂

At our dinner meeting we met with the directors of two orphanages and our in country team and just had a wonderful time of fellowship and fun. We talked about old times and dreamed about the future and God just strengthened these relationships all around. It was a blessed time.

We came back to the hotel beat but blessed beyond words. We all gathered up in Luis and my room for prayer and some more dream building and strategizing and then drifted of to bed. God is doing this, it is huge, and we are tremendously blessed to be a part. Thank you all for your love and prayers.

We all said, “What a miraculous 48 hours this has been and we have 48 more hours to go! Tomorrow we go to visit a new safe house and learn from them and then we are having lunch with the Goddaughters!!! and spending the rest of the day with them. Sunday we have several ministries to meet with and the Goddaughters will be with us all day. Praise God.